Gazing up at the heavens from our backyards or a nearby field, most of us see an undifferentiated mess of stars—if, that is, we can see anything at all through the glow of light pollution. Today’s casual observer knows far less about the sky than did our ancestors, who depended on the sun and the moon to tell them the time and on the stars to guide them through the seas. Nowadays, we don’t need the sky, which is good, because we’ve made it far less accessible, hiding it behind the skyscrapers and the excessive artificial light of our cities. How We See the Sky gives us back our knowledge of the sky, offering a fascinating overview of what can be seen there without the aid of a telescope. Thomas Hockey begins by scanning the horizon, explaining how the visible universe rotates through this horizon as night turns to day and season to season. Subsequent chapters explore the sun’s and moon’s respective motions through the celestial globe, as well as the appearance of solstices, eclipses, and planets, and how these are accounted for in different kinds of calendars. In every chapter, Hockey introduces the common vocabulary of today’s astronomers, uses examples past and present to explain them, and provides conceptual tools to help newcomers understand the topics he discusses. Packed with illustrations and enlivened by historical anecdotes and literary references, How We See the Sky reacquaints us with the wonders to be found in our own backyards.

Colour makes our lives more interesting — how dull it would be in a black-and-white world! It pleases us aesthetically, entertains us and is useful to us. This unique book aims to describe the scientific nature of colour and light, and how we see it, in an accessible and easily understandable style. The evolution of the eye, science of colour and technical visual systems are all broken down into readable chapters, with clear images and illustrations provided for reference. The book then goes on to discuss the innate tendency of humankind to produce artistic works as conceived, realised and augmented through the use of colour. Focussing on broad forms of artistic entertainment — painting with pigments and dyes, colour and light in photography and cinematography, light displays and colour in television — this book then delivers a comprehensive review of what colour means and has meant in the creative arts.

Spotting a face in a crowd is so easy, you take it for granted. But how you do it is one of science's great mysteries. Vision is involved in nearly a third of everything a brain does and explaining how it works reveals more than just how we see. It also tells us how the brain processes information – how it perceives, learns and remembers. In We Know It When We See It, pioneering neuroscientist Richard Masland covers everything from what happens when light hits your retina, to the increasingly sophisticated nerve nets that turn that light into knowledge, to what a computer algorithm must be able to do before it can truly be called ‘intelligent’. It is a profound yet accessible investigation into how our bodies make sense of the world.

The story of two boys, one with autism, one without, who make their friendship work.

This is a book about seeing the ultimate mystery as represented by the figure of God. It is not about religion per se, although it makes reference to many of the great religious traditions of the world and their gods. Rather, it is about the presence of the spiritual world and its inhabitants. The author's aim is to attempt to answer the question, How do we see God? through engaging with the images created by a group of children from a number of different cultures and spiritual backgrounds. Through a two-year period, the author travelled the world interviewing more than 500 children, asking them to draw a picture of God, to act and speak as God, and to tell a story about God. This text is a documentation of that journey into the lives and spiritual beliefs of children. Throughout the book, a broad selection of pictures and stories by the children is reproduced and paraphrased. The author offers his own commentaries, not as an analyst in a psychological sense or critic in a literary one, but as a God-seeker trusting in the power of the image to reveal meaning. This unique book will be of primary interest to professionals in the field of psychology, especially child and family therapists, as well as art and drama therapy, sociology, and theology. The book will also have appeal to parents and children who are looking for ways to understand their belief systems in relationship to others.

Spark your child's natural curiosity about the world around them with this sensory smorgasbord of questions! With over 300 trivia challenges covering sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell, they'll have a blast putting their five senses to the test. Each question dives deeper into how we experience our surroundings through our extraordinary human senses. Kids will discover why we have different taste buds, how sound travels, the role of touch receptors, and so much more. Complete with colorful illustrations and all the answers provided, it's the super-fun way for children ages 6-10 to learn about the science behind their senses. In this Science Trivia Quiz book, you can expect: Over 300 questions about the five human senses Answers and explanations at the end of each section Multiple choice format Questions that are easy to read and comprehend Lightweight and portable, this book is great for car rides, waiting rooms, or bedtime reading. Don't miss out on this exclusive offer - Buy now before the price changes!

A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading—how we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader. “A playful, illustrated treatise on how words give rise to mental images.” —The New York Times What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a page—a graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so—and other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our beloved—or reviled—literary figures. In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director Peter Mendelsund combines his profession, as an award-winning designer; his first career, as a classically trained pianist; and his first love, literature—he considers himself first and foremost as a reader—into what is sure to be one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.